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Most online media consumption is not driven by a desire to seek out news and politics. However, the public may still encounter politics because it arises organically in communities devoted to non-political subjects. This study examines the potential of popular reality television online discussion forums to serve as online third spaces and stimulate political discussion due to the natural connections that audiences make between the cast members and "real life" in reality-based programming. Based on a quantitative analysis of political comments made to reality television subreddits and a survey of visitors to a popular subreddit focused on The Bachelor television show, the findings not only demonstrate the ability of entertainment-focused online communities to expose a broad segment of the public to political talk, but also point to the obstacles in promoting political discussion that is simultaneously enjoyable, informative, and tolerant of diverse viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These examples show that the something lost/something gained dynamic Arditi demonstrates so well occurs more often than he demonstrates and that adds a lot more complexity to our social relationships in the streaming era. While the discussion of mobile games and microtransactions is certainly of value, in Arditi's discussion of video games the mega-platform of Twitch is absent. Arditi, David Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending Consumption of Culture. [Extracted from the article]

This study examines the political implications of social media through the lens of digital disconnectivity. Specifically, it focuses on politically motivated unfriending and examines its influence on individuals' political engagement, namely political expression and information consumption on social media. Furthermore, considering the importance of minority–majority relations for understanding disconnection phenomena, we investigate whether the impact of unfriending is more pronounced among opinion minorities than majorities. Using a two-wave panel survey conducted in the post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong, we find that politically motivated unfriending predicts an increased level of political expression, but that it is only significant among people who perceive themselves as holding minority opinions. At the same time, we find no relationship between unfriending and information consumption on social media. Based on the findings, we discuss the implications of unfriending for building digital "safe spaces" and its distinct role in promoting political engagement in times of political conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 10–15 years, Western societies have faced two interrelated social changes: the digitalization of media and the increase in socio-political polarization. While their relationship is causally reciprocal, population-level empirical studies focusing on over-time change remain scarce. We adopt the temporal perspective on the socio-political stratification of media usage in the context of Finland, one of the so-called Nordic media welfare states. We ask whether the ways in which media usage is socially stratified has changed from 2007 to 2018 and whether there is political polarization of media consumption. We draw on two nationally representative comparative surveys, collected in 2007 (N = 1388) and 2018 (N = 1425), and show that the main media usage patterns—the wide, the narrow, and the Internet-focused media repertoires—differ both in terms of their sociodemographic and political profiles and that the opposition between the wide and the narrow repertoires becomes increasingly polarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parallel media related to sports, gaming and gambling are expanding, exemplified by the emergence of esports and game-related gambling (e.g. loot boxes, esports betting). The increasing convergence of these phenomena means it is essential to understand how they interact. Given the expanding consumer base of esports, it is important to know how individuals' backgrounds and consumption of game media may lead to esports betting. This study employs survey data (N = 1368) to investigate how demographics, alongside consumption of video games, esports and gambling can predict esports betting activity. Results reveal that both spectating esports and participation in general forms of gambling are associated with increased esports betting, no direct association was observed between the consumption of video games and esports betting. Findings suggest that while games may act as a vehicle for gambling content, highlighting the convergence of gaming and gambling, there is no intrinsic aspect which directly encourages gambling behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues for the audience studies, which draws on the analysis of artifactual, spatial, temporal, and sensorial aspects of media consumption and builds on, that is, the so-called medium theory and theory of practice in sociology. In the second part of the article, we interpret the results of a qualitative empirical study regarding the daily use of media technology among young people, aged between 19 and 29 years. The study finds that circumstances, under which digital media have colonized all spheres of public life and under which online social life has become completely naturalized, have led to constant online connectivity as well as highly fragmented and dispersed communication practices of users moving between different media. The analysis of media consumption diaries points to radical mediatization, which plays an important role in the changing generational structure of feeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital games such as Minecraft currently hold a position of significance in the media diets of many children. However, little is known explicitly about just who plays, with whom and how. This article presents the quantitative results of a survey of 753 parents of children aged 3–12 years about their child’s engagement with Minecraft. Our results establish Minecraft as the dominant digital game title played by this age group, particularly on tablet devices. We provide evidence of a marked early gendering of children’s Minecraft play and engagement with meta-game material. This research gives particular impetus to efforts aimed at ensuring gender equity in digital game–related cultural spaces inhabited by children. It also highlights the importance of collecting game-specific descriptive information, rather than limiting studies to aggregate measures of ‘screen time’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically examines the media participation hypothesis advanced by Bucy, analyzing the influence of traditional and participatory media use across six US presidential elections. Multivariate analyses of American National Elections Study data demonstrate that as participatory media become more prevalent and utilized in an electoral system, corresponding and statistically significant increases in political system efficacy -- the perception of governmental responsiveness -- can be observed among the heaviest users of participatory media. Enhanced engagement with interactive media in combination with traditional media also translates into more positive assessments of democratic processes than use of traditional media alone. At the same time, increased engagement with participatory media shows a weak and negative association with political trust. Findings for the study uphold the basic tenets of the hypothesis, suggesting the framework provides a useful lens for understanding the tightening relationship between citizenship, use of communication technology, and democratic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As researchers took note of the emerging ubiquity of new media, they predicted how digital technologies would facilitate an increasingly fragmented audience. New media (i.e. technologies with online capabilities) were observed to possess previously unmatched levels of content options and audience control over consumption. Many researchers have since observed that the current audience landscape has not reached previously anticipated degrees of fragmentation, leading to questions about potentially mitigating factors. In this study, we utilize emerging network analytical procedures to examine the role of interpersonal relationships in both exacerbating and mitigating audience fragmentation. We find support for the notion that social ties can mitigate fragmentation with regard to particular types of media use, notably, those most narrowly defined. Implications of this cross-disciplinary study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to understand how American youth (aged 12–17 years) learn to consume the news, with specific concern for which devices (television, computer, tablet, and mobile phone) they employ in consuming news. Using a national survey of parent–child dyads, we explore (1) the role of demographics in creating a home environment supportive of news use, (2) the importance of parental modeling of news use via different media devices and whether the effect of modeling is complicated by the shift from shared to individualized media consumption, and (3) the impact of other socialization agents, such as peers and schools, in promoting youth news consumption above and beyond characteristics of the home. Results indicate that parental modeling remains an important factor in socializing news consumption, even when modeling takes place via mobile devices. Additionally, we find consistent evidence for “matched modeling” between the devices parents use for news and those used by youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Internet access, citizens in non-democracies are often able to diversify their news media repertoires despite government-imposed restrictions on media freedom. The extent to which they do so depends on motivations and habits of news consumption. This article presents a qualitative study of the motivations and habits underlying news media repertoires among a group of digitally connected university students in authoritarian Russia. Interviews reveal awareness and dissatisfaction vis-a-vis the 'propagandistic' nature of state-controlled news content, resulting in a preference for using multiple different sources - including foreign websites and 'non-official' citizen accounts - to build a personal understanding of what is 'really' going on. The article then examines how the students make sense of conflicting narratives about international affairs which they encounter in state and non-state sources. Paradoxically, low reported consumption of distrusted, 'propagandistic' state television is often accompanied by reproduction of the overarching strategic narrative which state television conveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uprisings after the 2009 elections in Iran generated debate on new media’s potential to affect dissent in authoritarian countries. We surveyed 2800 young, educated, metropolitan, and technologically savvy Iranians over a year after the election and during the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa to examine what sources these youth use for information, the extent to which they rely on new media for political exchanges, their experiences with online censorship, and political efficacy as related to new media. Although the Internet was stated as the most important news outlet, state-controlled television was often used, and Twitter was the least prevalent new media platform. Personal issues and IT/science were more often discussed via new media than politics. Further, it was using new media, not talking politics online, that predicted the frequency with which respondents encountered blocked websites online and also perceptions of their ownpolitical efficacy. Although our findings may support voices that are skeptical about technology’s ability to sustain revolution, we also identify what can be described as hubs of politicized Iranian youth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores the meaning of teenagers’ media consumption in terms of identity formation and autonomy attainment. In domestication theory, media consumption is conceptualized as the interplay of both media object and content. However, in practical applications, the notion of object has usually been snowed under by contextual descriptions. In response, this article draws upon the concept of a triple articulation that, next to media text, separates the object and the context. Using a multi-method study, we empirically demonstrate the relevance of separating the object and context dimensions in understanding media consumption. This is especially relevant in the current age of convergence in which media scholars are confronted with a changing media landscape, characterized by content that is increasingly device- and context-independent, while a broad range of devices are appropriated in a multitude of contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article assesses the main findings and dominant modes of inquiry in recent scholarship on online news consumption. The findings suggest that the consumption of news on the internet has not yet differed drastically from the consumption of news in traditional media. The assessment shows that the dominant modes of inquiry have also been characterized by stability rather than change (because research has usually drawn on traditional theoretical and methodological approaches). In addition, these modes of inquiry exhibit three systematic limitations: the assumption of a division between print, broadcast, and online media; the notion that the analysis should treat media features and social practices separately; and the inclination to focus on ordinary or extraordinary patterns of phenomena but not on both at the same time. On the basis of this assessment, this article proposes an integrative research agenda that builds on this scholarship but also contributes to solve some of its main limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]